Occupy Wall St. tent a safe haven for women. Marcus Santos for New York Daily News Protesters erect new “safe” tent for women only in Zuccotti Park Friday after recent groping incidents were reported. Spurred by a spate of sex attacks in Zuccotti Park, Occupy Wall Street protesters built a “safe house” for women on Friday. The 16-square-foot military frame tent is designed to shelter up to 30 women from the predators lurking around the lower Manhattan encampment. “It will be used to protect ourselves from people out there,” said Nan Terrie, 17, a protester from East Oakland Park, Fla. “I’m sick and tired of women getting taken advantage of, raped and murdered. “We need to take charge. Terrie said the tent, erected along the southern edge of the park near Cedar St., will be outfitted with bunk beds, drawers and a welcome table.
“I think it’s a great idea, especially for a movement like ours, to show we’re supporting each other,” said Bieje Chapman, 37, of Park Slope. rschapiro@nydailynews.com. Class Divisions at Occupy Wall Street? 'Occupy' Protesters March On New York Stock Exchange. Demonstrations in New York City continued with nightfall, as thousands of "Occupy" protesters massed at a downtown plaza and then peacefully marched across the Brooklyn Bridge -- aiming for a grand finale to a long day of activism that led to more than a hundred arrests and injuries to at least two police officers.
With some 11 hours of marching already in the books and under a darkening, cloud-covered sky, the indefatigable horde caught its breath at Foley Square, a short distance from the bridge. They buoyantly chanted and pumped signs like delegates at a political convention, and some danced boisterously. From there, they marched on to the Brooklyn Bridge's pedestrian walkway in lock-step with the sounds emanating from of a brass horn assemblage that had, somewhere along the way, joined the contingent.
Passing automobiles crossing the bridge on the adjacent roadway honked their horns -- either in a show of solidarity with the marchers or in opposition. "We just encircled Wall Street. Mayor Bloomberg Confronts Occupy Wall Street. In Zuccotti Park, Posted Rules, but Many Questions. Christopher Robbins/GothamistNot lying down in the park. Not using a sleeping bag. But is this person breaking the rules? The rules posted — and now enforced — at Zuccotti Park seem straightforward enough. No camping. No sleeping bags. No lying down. The rules are silent, though, on a few topics of interest to the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
“It is O.K. if someone dozes off on a park bench — for example during a lunch break,” a spokeswoman for the Law Department, Connie Pankratz, wrote in an e-mail. “If you can sleep overnight without violating any of the rules — in other words, if you can sleep overnight without using a bicycle, skateboard, Rollerblade or camping or lying down on the ground or benches, I think you can,” said Gideon Oliver, a lawyer with the New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which has advised the protesters. Robert Stolarik for The New York TimesAt a certain point, the line between sitting and lying down begins to blur. Mr. Ms. Regarding food, said Mr. Pepper Spray and Ayn Rand Deployed Against Occupy Seattle Protesters. Occupy Wall Street Organizers Consider Value of Camps. In New York, where the police temporarily evicted Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, and in other cities, dozens of organizers maintained that the movement had already reshaped the public debate.
They said it no longer needed to rely solely on seizing parks, demonstrating in front of the homes of billionaires or performing other acts of street theater. They said they were already trying to broaden their influence, for instance by deepening their involvement in community groups and spearheading more of what they described as direct actions, like withdrawing money from banks, and were considering supporting like-minded political candidates.
Still, some acknowledged that the crackdowns by the authorities in New York and other cities might ultimately benefit the movement, which may have become too fixated on retaining the territorial footholds, they said. “And suddenly, with a stroke, that’s no longer the problem or the issue,” he said, referring to the evictions. Angry 'Occupy' Protesters Plan To Take It To The Streets, As Some Threaten Violence. NEW YORK – Two days after the encampment that sparked the global Occupy movement was cleared by authorities, demonstrators in New York City and around the country were promising mass gatherings Thursday in support of the cause. The day of action had been planned before the city and park owners cracked down on the encampment in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, but took on added importance to the protesters after tents, tarps and sleeping bags were cleared out early Tuesday and the granite plaza was cleaned for the first time since the group arrived more than two months ago.
"We will get boots on the ground again," said Rory Simpson, 29, who described himself as an itinerant activist as he made signs Wednesday evening. "This is not over yet. " Police will be on hand and transit officials were preparing to deal with a crush of people as part of the protest billed as a national day of action. Similar protests were planned around the county. “No more talking. Occupy Oakland Disperses, For Now - By Patrick Brennan. The Occupy Oakland encampment in Frank Ogawa Plaza was raided overnight, again, but this time the crowd dispersed peacefully. The camp’s organizational structure knew that the eviction was coming but did little about it beforehand: Last night’s General Assembly began with an “indigenous prayer ceremony honoring the Ohlone people of the East Bay,” and soon moved on to a declaration that their camp would be a safe haven for “all immigrants with or without papers.”
They also decided to officially embrace a “diversity of tactics,” refusing to condemn violence or vandalism, on the grounds that doing so would allow the “media” to sow seeds of division within the movement. They filled time between the 11 p.m. meeting and their decampment with a “dance party” called Occupacolypse — the Oakland version of Nero playing the lyre as Rome burned. The mayor’s legal adviser, Dan Siegel, resigned today because he believes a “violent takeover is not acceptable.”
The OWS Legal Team - Patrick Brennan. Yesterday, lawyers for the Occupy Wall Street movement successfully filed for a temporary restraining order with a New York court. On paper, at least — the Bloomberg administration did not comply — Justice Lucy Billings’s ruling allowed the protesters to return to Zuccotti Park between yesterday morning’s eviction and yesterday afternoon’s full hearing.
She temporarily barred the city and the private owners of the park from preventing the occupation or keeping the occupiers from setting up tents. Justice Billings is perhaps the ideal enabler for the occupiers. Speaking of the protest’s lawyers, most of them are affiliated with the National Lawyers Guild, a group of explicitly progressive lawyers whose mission calls for the “reconstruction of legal values to emphasize human rights over property rights.”
That philosophy runs throughout much of their work, which has consistently championed the preferences of “marginalized” groups over the rule of law. Another OWS lawyer, Michael J. Is OWS in danger of losing Middle America? - War Room. Let’s try to make sense of this. A new national survey from Quinnipiac University suggests that popularity for the Occupy Wall Street movement is plummeting, with 39 percent of voters now saying they have an unfavorable view of the movement, compared to just 30 percent who have a favorable one. At the same time, a new CNN poll finds that voters agree with OWS by a 2-to-1 margin, 36 to 19 percent. Which one is right? They both may be, and the explanation (as is often the case) can be found in the wording of the questions. The Quinnipiac poll asks respondents: “Is your opinion of the Occupy Wall Street Movement favorable, unfavorable or haven’t you heard enough about it?”
If this is right — and it will take a lot more polling to have a clearer sense of whether it is — then it offers hope for the future of the OWS movement, but also a cautionary note about immediate strategy. The Root of All Oakland. The morning after Occupy Oakland's midweek violent protests, the take in the Bay Area was that it was a dirty, rotten shame that a few bad-egg anarchists hijacked a mostly peaceful protest and made an otherwise good cause look bad.
That is so delusional. From the start, troublemakers have advocated violent protest during the group's general assemblies. Guys with masks and ill intent threw rocks and bottles at police before officers used tear gas -- and Iraq vet Scott Olsen, 24, sadly was injured -- to clear Frank Ogawa Plaza on Oct. 25. They were armed with incendiary devices when the sun went down Nov. 2. Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente is sick of hearing about how peaceful the majority of protesters were. The majority of Occupy protesters aren't victims; they're enablers. There was no positive political message. Free speech does not mean free camping. Councilwoman Nancy Nadel doesn't understand the First Amendment. California Gov. Oakland has thriving, top-rated restaurants. Is the Tide Turning for OWS? - Charles C. W. Cooke. With a little help from the residents of Lower Manhattan and a little more from the denizens of Occupy Wall Street’s tent city, significant parts of Community Board 1 (CB1) and the New York State legislature seem finally to have realized that they have been had.
“We have had twelve meetings,” one member said last night during a CB1 session in City Hall, “and now we’ve given up.” It is about time. To most clear-thinking people, it has been painfully obvious for some time that the powers that be have credulously indulged a group that is simply playing games with the democratic process. Now those powers may have caught on, too. One resident summed it up perfectly: “This is about the law. They have been given a waiver for too long.” Next, the protesters’ trump card was reexamined. It is obvious to anyone who has spent time down in Zuccotti Park that “the law” is not of paramount concern to those in the commune. And then there are the safety concerns. . — Charles C. Behind the Lines With Krugman's Army. ‘OCCUPY WALL STREET’ & ELSEWHERE: The 9.9 Most Eye-Catching ‘Occupy’ Cartoons [updated] - Comic Riffs. Posted at 01:44 PM ET, 10/16/2011 Oct 16, 2011 05:44 PM EDT TheWashingtonPost You could just feel it weeks ago, couldn’t you?
Gathering steam and amassing force as the elements aligned like some tempest of a weather event — starting from the actions on Wall Street yet also ready to traverse the globe for other hot-spots. No, we refer not to “The Other 99%” protestors, but rather the reactions from the world’s editorial cartoonists, who are have been training their jaundiced eyes on the protests — and official reaction to it — as they prepped their parade of caricatured fat-cats (cue pinstriped three-pieces and stogies) and protestors (cue Phish T’s and bongos). Now, as the “Occupy” protests go global, readers are treated to a wide array of comic responses — from the cartoonists who sympathize (or perhaps empathize) with the protestors to those artists who view financial sit-ins as folly. So as hundreds of protests continue apace today, here are our 9.9 Most Eye-catching “Occupy” Cartoons: ‘Follow the Red Flag!’ - By Kevin D. Williamson.
I’ve been spending as much time as I can down at Occupy Wall Street, listening to the speeches, reading the literature, talking to the organizers. Here’s something to keep in mind: You’ll hear in a lot of the conservative media that this is some kind of socialist/communist enterprise piggybacking on a populist protest. In reality, it is much worse than even most of the conservative media is reporting. Almost every organization present at OWS is explicitly communist or socialist.
Almost every piece of literature being handed out is explicitly communist or socialist. When the protesters were rallying to march to Times Square, out went the call: “Follow the red flag!” Interesting, then, that Barack Obama has decided to lend some presidential legitimacy to the proceedings. Speaking of vandalism, I witnessed a bit of it on Saturday, when a protester denied the use of the facilities at a local pizza shop began tearing up merchandise and throwing it in the garbage.
“Follow the red flag!” 'Occupiers' killing stimulus-funded sod in D.C. | Campaign 2012. Neo-Cannibals, Deadbeats, Dopers and Democrats Occupy Denver « Looking at the Left. Back with a Vengeance, Evicted Protesters Take the Streets Denver, October 16, 2011 - by El Marco “Occupy Denver” returned to the streets with a vengeance Saturday after being expelled, having their camp forcibly removed from Veterans’ Park by police at 4 a.m.
Friday morning. October 15 was declared International Day of Action, which saw radical socialist/anarchist Occupy protests and violence in European and American cities. The Occupy Denver crowd reached approximately 2000 – 3,000. Chanting “Whose street? Colorado State Troopers ringed the State Capitol to protect a gathering of veterans, as well as a State Congressional prayer meeting.
This was the scene across from the Capitol at noon, as protesters gathered before the planned march on the Federal Reserve Building six blocks to the north. An Occupy Denver community organizer leads the bizarre chanting ritual. The orange tape insignia on this woman’s arm indicates that she is a leader. Love that gay patriotic humor. Hat Tip: ZOMBIE.
Times Square among 900 sites “occupied” I was in Times Square Saturday as thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters brought their anti-greed, pro-economic justice message to Manhattan’s brightly lit temple of consumerism and corporate culture. The protest in New York occurred along with hundreds of other coordinated actions around the country and the world. Large affiliated crowds marched in London, Frankfurt, and Rome, where rioters hijacked a peaceful anti-austerity protest. There was a reported total of 900 protests in cities around the world, ranging in size. The day capped a month of exponential growth for a movement that started in New York on Sept. 17, and has since spread to nearly 2,000 towns and cities. Here is a panoramic photo I took in Times Square Saturday. I heard many of the chants from what has become Occupy Wall Street’s repertoire: “We.
“How do we fix the deficit? “Banks got bailed out! And there was the usual colorful collection of homemade signs, often scrawled on the back of broken down cardboard boxes. Will a new Dylan emerge from Occupy Wall Street? Of the many musicians who have appeared at an Occupy Wall Street event to play, show support or simply check out the scene, the one who has arguably generated the most attention is Jeff Mangum, frontman for the long-dormant Athens, Ga., band Neutral Milk Hotel. On the evening of Oct. 4, he performed a surprise acoustic set of eight songs before an excited crowd at Zuccotti Park. It was a surprise not only because the performance was not announced beforehand, but also because Mangum has performed only a handful of times since his band released its triumphal second album, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” 13 years ago.
Even as that record has grown increasingly popular over the years, he has remained a legendary hermit, shunning the spotlight and making music only privately. Mangum played mostly songs from “Aeroplane,” which convey a sense of world-shattering loss through the strange imagery of two-headed boys, burning pianos and fingers notched Cronenberg-style into spines.
Cornel West meets the Man. Occupy Wall Street's struggle for nonviolence - Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street | One Month | Capitalism. Occupy Wall Street’s Marxists--Charles Gasparino.